Magic cruise past Wizards

WASHINGTON (AP) — Paolo Banchero scored 30 points and the Orlando Magic eased to a 120-105 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Wendell Carter Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Franz Wagner added 21 points for the Magic, who have now alternated wins and losses over their last seven games.

Orlando began the night in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta and two in front of Chicago in the battle for NBA play-in tournament seeding.

Alex Sarr scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Washington, which lost its third straight. Jordan Poole added 18 points for the Wizards, who did not hold a lead beyond the midpoint of the first quarter.

ROCKETS 102, HEAT 98

MIAMI (AP) —Fred VanVleet scored 37 points and surging Houston won their ninth straight, beating Miami.

VanVleet shot 13 for 17 from the field and made a season-high 9 of 11 3-pointers as the Rockets extended the league’s longest active winning streak. Houston also snapped a nine-game skid against Miami, which lost its 10th straight. It is the Heat’s longest skid since they lost 11th straight in 2007-08.

Amen Thompson returned after missing the last six games because of a sprained left ankle and finished with 18 points and seven steals while Dillon Brooks and Jabari Smith each added 11 points for the Rockets.

TIMBERWOLVES 134, PELICANS 93

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Julius Randle had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists and Minnesota avoided losing to one of the Western Conference’s worst teams for the second time in three days with a victory over New Orleans.

Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards each scored 17 points, and Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which moved back within a game of Golden State for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference with 10 games left in the regular season.

The Timberwolves’ 41-point margin of victory was their largest this season.

Edwards also finished with five assists and three rebounds after a brief injury scare in the third quarter. The three-time All-Star went to the locker room holding his right thigh, but returned later in the period.

C.J. McCollum led the Pelicans with 15 points, and Bruce Brown scored 14.

THUNDER 141, HORNETS 106

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points and Oklahoma City won their fifth in a row, over Charlotte.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s top scorer at 33.0 points per game, returned to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday night’s lopsided win against Philadelphia. He made 13 of 18 shots to go with six rebounds and nine assists before sitting out the fourth quarter.

Chet Holmgren added 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks for Oklahoma City, which clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the second consecutive season when Milwaukee beat the Lakers on Thursday.

Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder, who played without injured starters Lu Dort and Jalen Williams. Oklahoma City led 66-49 at halftime after Kenrich Williams banked in a 29-foot shot at the buzzer, and 103-76 after three quarters.

Miles Bridges scored 20 points and Nick Smith Jr. added 14 for Charlotte, which played without injured starters LaMelo Ball (ankle) and Mark Williams (foot).

SPURS 128, 76ERS 120

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jeremy Sochan had 23 points, Keldon Johnson added 20 points and San Antonio rallied to close on an 11-3 run and beat injury-depleted Philadelphia.

Stephon Castle added 17 points and a season-high 14 assists for San Antonio, which won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 3.

Quentin Grimes had 25 points and 10 rebounds as Philadelphia dropped its third straight. Justin Edwards added 25 points and Guerschon Yabusele had 23 points and nine rebounds.

MAVERICKS 123, PISTONS 117

DALLAS (AP) — Spencer Dinwiddie scored a season-high 31 points while P.J. Washington Jr. added 27, with a season-high five 3-pointers, as Dallas beat Detroit.

Eleven of Dinwiddie’s points came at the free-throw line, where Dallas hit 27 of 36 to Detroit’s 14 of 19.

Klay Thompson scored 20 and Naji Marshall had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, who snapped a four-game losing streak and won for only the second time in 11 games as they battle to earn a play-in berth after playing in last year’s NBA Finals.

Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 35 points on 15 for 30 shooting for the Pistons, sixth in the East and one game behind Milwaukee.

CELTICS 121, JAZZ 99

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis scored 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 to lead Boston to a victory over Utah.

Porzingis added 10 rebounds and six assists, and Tatum chipped in six boards, six assists, and three steals as Boston won its four straight and ninth in its last 10 games.

Collin Sexton led Utah with 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting. Keyonte George added 19 points and seven assists as the Jazz lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.

SUNS 123, CAVALIERS 112

PHOENIX (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 42 points and Phoenix defeated suddenly struggling Cleveland.

It was the Suns’ third straight win and kept them in a tie with Dallas for the final play-in spot in the West at 34-37.

Devin Booker scored 17 points and Tyus Jones scored 16. Royce O’Neale had 15 points on five 3-pointers for Phoenix.

Cleveland, which saw its 16-game winning streak snapped by Orlando on Sunday, has now lost a season-high four in a row to fall two games behind Oklahoma City for the NBA’s best record. Their 56-14 mark still leads the East comfortably.

Darius Garland scored 18 points for Cleveland. Evan Mobley had 16 points and 12 rebounds and former Sun Ty Jerome also scored 16 for the Cavs. All-Star Donovan Mitchell scored just seven points.

TRAIL BLAZERS 128, NUGGETS 109

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Deni Avdija had 36 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead Portland to a win over Denver, who were without star center Nikola Jokic for the third straight game.

Shaedon Sharpe added 23 points as the Trail Blazers dominated the second half (74-50) to cruise to their fourth straight victory. Portland remained two games behind Dallas and Phoenix for 10th place in the Western Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament.

Aaron Gordon scored 23 points for Denver, which lost its second straight and is a half-game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for third place in the West.

CLIPPERS 128, GRIZZLIES 108

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — James Harden scored 30 points, Kawhi Leonard added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Los Angeles used a big second half to beat Memphis for their fifth straight win.

Ivica Zubac had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 points for Los Angeles. The Clippers scored 68 points in the second half to turn a six-point halftime deficit into a 20-point victory.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 23 points to lead the Grizzlies, who lost their third straight. Santi Aldama added 16 points and Scotty Pippen Jr. and Luke Kennard each had 15 points.

Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black (0) goes to the basket past Washington Wizards forward Anthony Gill (16), forward JT Thor (21) and others during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

PARIS (AP) — First, the plane disappeared from radar screens somewhere over the French Alps, on March 24, 2015.

Then, families of the 150 people aboard Germanwings Flight 9525 started showing up at airports. In Barcelona, Spain, where loved ones had boarded the plane, and Duesseldorf, Germany, where loved ones were meant to land.

Airport screens showed a blank spot where the flight's arrival time should have appeared.

Soon, search teams fanned out over treacherous mountainsides, rappelling off helicopters or scaling barren slopes.

At last, the first signs of debris appeared. Then, human remains.

Eventually, the plane's black boxes were found, allowing investigators to piece together the plane's final moments.

It was no accident. French and German investigators concluded that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit, and intentionally crashed.

Local hamlets welcomed search teams and families as they waited, worried and began to grieve. Today, the village of Le Vernet hosts a monument honoring the dead, rising above a meadow overlooking Alpine peaks.

On Monday, Le Vernet will host families for a memorial ceremony and a moment of silence at 10:41 a.m., exactly 10 years after the crash.

FILE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, French President Francois Hollande, right, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pay respect to the victims in front of the mountain where a Germanwings jetliner crashed on Tuesday, in Le Vernet, France, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool, File)

FILE - In this photo taken on March 31, 2015 and provided by the French Interior Ministry, French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur, File)

FILE - A convoy of hearses drive along the highway in Duisburg, Germany, June 10, 2015, taking home 16 school children who died in the Germanwings plane crash over the French Alps. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

FILE - People wait to start a minute of silence for the victims of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps, in front of the council building in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - Families of the Germanwings victims pay homage in Le Vernet, French Alps, July 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File)

FILE - A man pays his respect to the Germanwings victims in Le Vernet, in the French Alps, Sept. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

FILE - Friends of the German students from the crashed plane attend a mass in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain, March 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, April 3, 2015. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur via AP, File)

FILE - Families of the victims look at the Germanwings plane crash site one year after the crash, Thursday, March 24, 2016 in Le Vernet, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

FILE - A rescue worker climbs past debris at the plane crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France after a Germanwings jetliner crashed in the French Alps, March 25, 2015 (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

FILE - A school girl lights a candle in front of the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium in Haltern, western Germany, March 24, 2015, after a Germanwings plane from Barcelona crashed on its way to Duesseldorf over the French alps. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, March 31, 2015. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur via AP, File)

FILE - Rescuers work on debris of the Germanwings jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, on March 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

FILE - A student who knew some of the German students involved in a crashed plane, reacts during a minute of silence in front of the council building in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - Rescue workers work at the crash site after a Germanwings plane crashed over the French Alps near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, Monday, March 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, Pool, File)

FILE - The arrivals board shows flight 4U 9525 without a status at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany, March 24, 2015, after a Germanwings passenger jet carrying 148 people crashed in the French Alps region. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

FILE - A rescue worker is lifted into an helicopter at the crash site after a Germanwings plane crashed over the French Alps, near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, March 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)